In an interview with the National Catholic Register's Edward Pentin, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk talks about his first official visit to Rome in September as chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Affairs. He offers a caution about any Catholic-Orthodox union, something that media reports and at least one Catholic bishop said was imminent. In pointing out that … [Read more...]

AsiaNews, the Roman Catholic news service, looks at how some elements in Russian society are working to rehabilitate Stalin's reputation and sees the Russian Orthodox Church "co-opted" into this process.
The makeover of Stalin’s image and the Soviet Era go together with an attempt by Russian rulers to restore the country’s cultural identity, an impossible mission without the cooptation of … [Read more...]

From an interview in the Russian publication Argumenty I Fakty, republished on the site of the Moscow Patriarchate. Worth reading in its entirety. Excerpts:
Should the Church do something to attract young people? Should it seek a special approach to them?
I believe that the search for real freedom is a worthy thing not only for young people but also for all those who are seeking the true … [Read more...]

From the Moscow Patriarchate's report on the recent meeting between Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk and Pope Benedict XVI:
Archbishop Hilarion stressed the importance of the Orthodox and Catholic common witness to traditional Christian values in face of the secular world. He pointed to the identity of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches’ views on such themes as family, motherhood, … [Read more...]

From Interfax:
Moscow, September 21 -- Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is visiting Rome, has celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Catacombs of St. Callixtus.
Speaking to believers after the service, the Archbishop urged to overcome a thousand-year-old dispute between Christians of East and West and reminded … [Read more...]

We should all be extremely cautious about the recent comments about a Catholic-Orthodox union (Fr. Peter-Michael Preble has already raised important questions about these reports). Outside of the obvious and thorny theological questions – on both sides – that would arise, is there any way such a union could take place without first convening an all-Orthodox Council? And if such a council would … [Read more...]

Moscow, September 9, Interfax – Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk is going on a working visit to Vatican to discuss issues connected with dialogue between the two Churches.
He told it at his meeting with Dominican Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso in Moscow.
According to the Archbishop, today the Moscow … [Read more...]

From the Religious Information Service of the Ukraine:
MOSCOW—Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) expressed confidence that foreign structures will not interfere with church problems in Ukraine. In particular, they mean the Constantinople Patriarchate, which, according to the ROC representatives, the Ukrainian authorities hoped to engage in the establishment of a national … [Read more...]

The Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate distributed "A Mission in the World," an interview of Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk by Expert Magazine (Issue No. 23 (661) June 15, 2009).
Expert Magazine Your Eminence, one hundred days have passed since the enthronement of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. What has changed in church-society relations … [Read more...]

Comments from Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk on the pre-conciliar deliberations at Chambesy, Switzerland, which was to address, in part, "problems in the Orthodox diaspora." In this interview with the Russian news service Interfax, before leaving for the meeting, the archbishop talks about the "many faces" of the Orthodox 'diaspora' and the agenda setting process for a Great … [Read more...]

From Interfax:
Archbishop Hilarion contemplates the establishment of new local Orthodox Churches
Moscow, June 1, - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk believes that the current Inter-Orthodox consultations may cause the establishment of new local Orthodox churches.
"It is our opinion that the progressive consolidation … [Read more...]